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E480 SPEECH 

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OF 



HOK JOHN S. CARLILE, OF VIRGINLV, 



ON THE 



BtLL TO CONFISCATE THE PROPERTY AND FREE 
THE SLAVES OF REBELS; 

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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MARCH 11, 1862. '' ^^ 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1862. 




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SPEECH 



The Senate having undur consideration the bill to con- 
fiscate tlie property and free the slaves of rebels — 

Mr.CARLILE said: Idonotpropose, Mr. Pres- 
ident, to follow the example set us by my friend, 
the honorable Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Brown- 
ing,] who addressed the Senate yesterday, by 
saying what I may do in the future upon the hap- 
pening of a contingency which, in my judgment, 
never can arise. I am content to deal with the 
present. If I can meet wisely the questions of 
the hour, I shall be satisfied; and in my opinion 
it would be well if we would, in this the day of 
our trial, act upon the maxim, "Sufficient unto 
the day is the evil thereof." The bill under con- 
sideration is entitled '* A bill to confiscate the 
property and free the slaves of rebels." The ob- 
jects of the bill, as stated in the title, are, in my 
opinion, beyond the power of accomplishment, if 
we regard our constitutional obligations. The 
Supreme Court would have to pronounce such 
a law unconstitutional in any case arising under 
it, if it could be brought before that tribunal for 
its decision. The founders of the Government 
intended to secure to every citizen, and have so 
provided in the Constitution, the right to test the 
constitutionality of any congressional enactment 
before the Supreme Court-, but here is a bill taking 
from more than one fourth of the entire popula- 
tion of this whole country all their property of j 
every kind and description, reducing them to beg- 
gary and want, without judicial trial or legal in- 
vestigation. The bill denies to the citizen the 
constitutional right of testing the constitutionality 
of the act before the tribunal created by the Con- 
stitution. It would seem as if the authors of the 
bill, conscious of the unconstitutionality of the 
proposed measure, purposely framed it so that its 
constitutionality could not be pronounced upon 
by the Supreme Court. 

The bill proposes to confiscate to the use of the 
Government all the property, real and personal, 
belonging to the citizens of the seceded States 
who are or may be in the service of the so-called 
confederate States, or who in any way give aid 
and comfort to the rebellion. When it is remem- 
bered that the authors of the rebellion were in 
possession of the various State governments, and 



used the powerand machinery of their respective 
State governments to compel the people to ac- 
quiesce in their unconstitutional acts, and to rec- 
ognize their usurped authority, it will be seen 
that all the property of each and every citizen in 
the seceded States would be forfeited under this 
bill. Such a sweeping proposition, so unjust and 
cruel s measure, one better calculated to continue 
the war forever and exhaust the whole country, 
never has been in the history of the world, and I 
predict never will be again, proposed to any legis- 
lative assembly representing a civiliiied commu- 
nity. 

By the bill all the property, except sl^iei*, is to 
be sold, and the proceeds put into the public 
Treasury. The slaves are to be emancipated in 
violation of the Constitution and in disregard of 
the acknowledged constitutional rights of their 
owners and of the States wherein they reside. 
The want of power in Congress to interfere with 
slavery in the States where it exists has always 
heretofore been admitted; the most ultra aboli-^ 
tionists admit that Congress cannot interfere with 
slavery in the States, and because this is so they 
denounce the Constitution as a covenant with 
death and a league with hell. The ablest speech 
made this session in Congress in favor of con- 
verting the struggle in which we are engaged into 
an anti-slavery war, was made by the Represent- 
ative in the House from Kansas, [Mr. Conway.] 
It is a speech that must challenge the admiration 
of those who differ with its author, for its bold- 
ness, frankness, and candor. The member from 
Kansas with directness meets the questions he 
discusses; there is no mistaking his position. Not 
a dollar or a man will he vote for the restoration 
of the Union. Millions for an anti-slavery war, 
not one cent to suppress insurrection and to restore 
the supremacy of the Constitution and the laws. 
Do I misrepresent him.' Let him speak for him- 
self: 

" For one, I shall not vote another dollar or man for the 
war until it assumes a dilferent standing, and tends directly 
to an anti-slavery result. Millions for freedom, butnot one 
cent for slavery !" 

To accomplish his purpose — the abolition of 
slavery — he would recognize the so-called con- 
federate States as an independent Power, and he 



^ 



would conquer the seceded States and hold them 
as subject provinces. Hear him again: 

" To recognize the confedoriite States for tlieir benefit is 
no part of our duty; but to shape our policy to accord with 
events, and enable us to fulfill a liigh purpose, is what we 
are imperatively called upon to do. The fiction upon which 
we are now proceeding binds us to slavery ; and hence the 
national arms, instead of being directed against it, are held 
where they may at any moment be required to be turned to 
its defense. 

"The wish of the masses of our people is to conquer the 
seceded States to the authority of the Union, and hold them 
as subject provinces." 

The member from Kansas admits that his pur- 
poses cannot be accomplished constitutionally, 
and expressly refers to the bill now before the 
Senate, and shows it to be unconstitutional. Hear 
him again: 

" Slavery cannot be abolished in a State by act of (Jon- 
press. The thing is impossible. Congress is the legislative 
Ijranch of the Government, performing itsduties undercer- 
tain constitutional limitations. Slavery in the States is 
outside of those limitations. It can be abolished only by 
tlie States themselves, or by the Executive in time of war, 
on principles of public law, as ably expounded many years 
ago by John Quincy Adams. In the suppression of insur- 
rection, however, the Executive has not this power, unlesa 
the insurgents have ceased to be i)artie3 to our constitu- 
tional Union ; in which case they liave, in fact, ceased to 
be insurgents, and become belligerents. 

" The overthrow of slavery by confiscating the property 
of rebel slaveholders seems to me to be utterly impractica- 
ble, consistently with the plain requirements of the Con- 
stitution. A bill has recently been introduced into the Sen- 
ate to declare the property of all persons engaged in the 
rebellion forfeit, and directing the President to execute its 
provisions summarily without the interposition of civil pro- 
cess for trial or judgment. This bill is unconstitutional. 
The fifth aniendment to the Constitution provides that, 
' No perf'-^n shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property 
witlioy : process of law.' And the sixth amendment is 
as follows: 

'"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy 
tlie right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury 
of the State or district wlierein the crime shall have been 
committed, which district shall have been previously ascer- 
tained by Jaw, and to be informed of the nature and cause 
of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
against him ; to liave compulsory process for obtaining wit- 
n«Jsses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel 
-^felr liis defense.' 

" A bill has also been introduced into this body of similar 
import, and obnoxious to the same objection, and likewise 
to a still stronger one. This latter bill proposes to abolish 
a State, and degrade it to the position of a 'J'erritory . Such 
an act as this is utterly at war with the theory of our Fed- 
eral system. It could not be carried into eiftect without 
destroying the nation, as it has heretofore existed. Its suc- 
cess would establish a precedent which would make the 
Federal Government the source of all power, and convert 
the States into mere corporations." 

To accomplish his purposes, he would recog- 
nize the so-called confederate States as a separate 
nation, and wage war upon them because he be- 
lieves that the laws regulating public war would 
enable him to deprive the citizens of those States 
of ^2,000,000,000 worth of slave property. He 
says: 

"The conflict has now been progressing nine months, 
and has changed its cliaracter from an attempt to destroy 
an insurrection into a deliberate and settled war." 

I have read from the speech of the member from 
Kansas, because, in my opinion, it is a represent- 
ative speech, and because he lias had the boldness 
to avow what 1 believe are the real views of his 
party, but what liis party associates, less bold 
than himself, for prudential reasons do not avow. 
If a member from a slave State had uttered such 



sentiments as those I have read from the speech 
of the member from Kansas, the wliole air would 
have been filled with the cry of disloyally and liis 
expulsion demanded. The press that clamored 
so loudly for the expulsion of the late Senator 
from Iiuliana and the rejection of the Senator from 
Oregon, is engaged in applauding the sentiments 
of the member from Kansas. Those sentiments 
are, as I have shown you, that unless the con- 
federate States are recognized as an independent 
Power and war is waged upon them for the abo- 
lition of slavery, not another man or dollar of 
money will the member from Kansas vote. Let 
a member from a slave State of either House de- 
clare that he would — unless the so-called confed- 
erate States are recognized and war allowed, not 
to conquer the northern States and hold them as 
subject provinces, but only to secure constitu- 
tional guarantees for slavery in tiie Union — not 
vote another man or another dollar; how long, 
think you, would he or ought he to retain his seat 
in Congress? And yet what would be the differ- 
ence .' Whose utterances would be most disloyal, 
or, if you please, most treasonable.' 

For more than twenty-five years, Mr. Presi- 
dent, the representatives of the abolitionists and 
of tlie secessionists have pulled the same string at 
different ends, heretofore sitting together in the 
same Congress and acknowledging the same coun- 
try. They are still pulling the same string at dif- 
ferent ends of the siring and each in his own end of 
the country. Both want the so-called confederate 
governiTtcni recognized; both want the rebellion 
dignified by the name of war; both want their 
rights. The one wants you to acknowledge his 
right to take his slave into the Territories, not that 
he will ever take him there; the other wants you to 
acknowledge his right to liberate the slave in the 
slave States, not that he would do it, for he will 
not let the free negroes live in his State, and he 
knows that they will not be permitted to live in 
the slave States. The secessionist is fighting for 
his rights; the abolitionist would have you fight 
for his. Both contend that the Union is dissolved. 
Par nobile fratrum. People of America look at 
them ! Behold a pair of noble brothers — abolition 
and secession; twins they are; spawned at the 
same time in the saine inuddy stream. 

The third section of this bill makes it the duty 
of the President to colonize the negroes at the cost 
of the Government, of course the Government to 
get the iTioney by taxing the people. It is not 
enough to tax them for war purposes, but they 
must be taxed to pay overseers on Georgia and 
South Carolina plantations; taxed to the tune of 
ten dollars an acre, to buy implements of hus- 
bandry for all the land tilled by these overseers 
in Georgia and South Carolina; taxed to buy land 
in tropical climates; taxed to send negroes to trop- 
ical climates; in short, the people are to be taxed 
uponlyingdown andgetting up,standingor walk- 
ing, asleep or awake, all for the glorious privilege 
ofevincingto the world that enlarged philanthropy 
that can view with complacency the sufferings and 
the groans of the white race, but is horrified at the 
sight of four millions of negroes comfortable, con- 
tented, and happy, unconscious of suffering until 
informed by some philanthropic Greeley; who was 



willing to permit their masters to withdraw them 
and the States in wliicli they reside from the Gov- 
ernment to which the labor of the one and the pro- 
ductions of the other has contributed more than 
any other portion of our country to make it wlmt 
it was a little more than one year ago — the proud- 
est, richest, and most prosperous on the globe. 

Mr. President, I was about to call the attention 
of the Senate to the third section of the bill. This 
section makes it the duty of the President'^ pro- 
vide for the transportation, colonization, and set- 
tlement of such emancipated negroes as may be 
willing to emigrate to some tropical climate, to be 
selected for them by the Executive. The bill fails 
to make provision for the negroes who shall be un- 
willing to leave the land of their birth and the home 
of their nativity. That this latter class will com- 
prise at least ninety-nine hundreths of the slaves, 
IS a fact known to all acquainted with the race, and 
I presume is known to the advocates of this meas- 
ure in the Senate. I see from a speech reported 
in the Globe, made by a member of the House, 
concurring in opinion with the advocates of this 
measure, that tiie negro's attachment to his na- 
tive land is well understood by the member, [Mr. 
Davis, of Pennsylvania.] 1 will read the extract 
to which I refer: 

" Yet of the 53,000 free blacks in Pennsylvania, only 
15,000 are not native horn. Why have this people, with so 
many reasons to impel Iheni, not. micirateci to the North ? 
Why (io ihey adliere with such persistence to tlieir native 
soil .' This love of home is strikingly illustrated hy the fol- 
lowing figures from the census of 1850 : Of the .'>4,333 free 
blacks in the State of Virginia, only 533 were born out of 
the State; of the 18,073 in Delaware, onlv 1,141; of the 
74,723 in Marylanil, only 1,367; and of the 27,463 in North 
Carolina, but 645 were born out of the State ; or of a total 
free population in these four States of 174,000, only 3,686 
are foreign born, or a trifle over two percent. This shows 
plainly tliat the black is not migratory, and that our people 
have little to apprehend from a race thus deep-rooted in the 
soil of the South. Is it not doing violence to right reason 
and the facts to assume that the negro would abandon the 
lunne that he has clung to under such adverse circum- 
stances, with the first step towards rendering his existence 
tolerable? i am satisfied tliat gentlemen have allowed their 
prejudice to cloud their judgment ; and when they come to 
review the facts, they will agree with me that, with eman- 
cipation, the exodus of the negro will be southward, and 
that soon, of all the free blacks resident in the cold North, 
one half or more would take up the line of march to the 
sunny land of Dixie. 

" ' Where the yam will grow, the cotUui blow, 
They'll raise the rice and corn ; 
And never they'll fear if never they hear 
The driver blow his horn.' " 

Assuming that the attachment of the negro to 
his " native .soil" is as Mr. Davis represents, and 
that all the free negroes in the non-slaveholding 
States are, as he intimates, to be colonized for 
settlement in the now slaveholdingStates, and that 
the advocates of this bill so understand their pro- 
posed schemes of emancijiation, colonization, and 
settlement, the conclusion that it is their purpose 
to Africanize American society in the southern 
States is irresistible. If this be their pur]iose, I 
assure them they are mistaken. Self-preservation 
would compel the States within which slavery 
now exists, if the slaves were emancipated, either 
to expel them from the State or reenshive them. If 
expelled, where would they go.' The non-slave- 
holding Slates, many of them, exclude them by ex- 
press constitutional provision ; others would do so, 



for we are told by the advocates of emancipation 
that the negro is not to be permitted, when liber- 
ated, to come into their States. What follows.' 
Extermination or reenslavement. Can it be pos- 
sible that the Christian sentiment of the North, 
which it is said demands the abolition of slavery, 
desires the extermination of the negro race.' Such, 
I trust, is not the sentiment of any considerable 
nuinlx'r of persons anywhere. The result would 
be that the States would do what they have the 
acknowledged constitutional right todo,reenslave 
them. The wellbeing, if not the existence, of the 
white race would demand their reenslavement, 
and it would be done. I ask, then, what good to 
either race would be accotnplished by the passage 
of this section of the bill ? 

The Senator from Illinois, [Mr. Trumbull,] the 
patron of this bill, as I understood him, admitted 
the want of power in Congress to forfeit real es- 
tate for a longer period than the life of the owner. 
If I am in error, I desire to be corrected. 

Mr. TRUMBULL. The Senator certainly mis- 
understood me. 1 said that I was inclined to think 
Congress could not forfeit the real estate of a con- 
victed traitor longer than for life; but the bill which 
is pending proposes not to forfeit tlie real estate 
of convicted traitors, but to forfeit 'he property of 
persons who cannot be convicted, who are be- 
yond the reach of judicial process. It is not a bill 
against persons who can be reached by judicial 
process. 

Mr. CARLILE. I thank the Senator, because 
I desire to understand his position. I now under- 
stand liim to say that, while it is not in the power 
of Congress, aided by the judicial department of 
the Government, upon trial and conviction for 
treason, to confiscate the real estate of the traitor 
beyond his life, Congress can yet of itself, with- 
out the intervention of the judicial department of 
the Government, inflict that punishment, not upon 
a convicted traitor, but upon one who in the eye 
of the law is presumed to be innocent until he is 
proven to be guilty. That is to say, you may"" 
without conviction impose a heavier penalty than 
can be imposed upon guilt being ascertained and 
judgment being pronounced. It is worse than I 
supposed. Such a proposition I shall not detain 
the Senate by discussing. 

The Senator referred us, in his argument, to 
several decisions of the Supreme Court. I have ex- 
amined those cases. Notoneof them bears upon 
his proposition. In Brown's case the court seem 
to say that Congress can by legislation provide for 
the confiscation of enemy property. This is not 
authority for the confiscation of the private jirop- 
erty of our own citizens, although they may be reb- 
els. The Constitution provides against the con- 
fiscation or forfeiture of the estate of the latter in as 
plain language as it forbids the enactment of bills 
of attainder. That this bill is a bill of attainder, as 
such bills have been defined by our own judges, 
is beyond the shadow of a doubt. The Supreme 
Court has said that " a bill of attainder may effect 
the life of an individual, or may confiscate his prop- 
erty, or both." Judge Tucker says a bill of pains 
and penalties is a biUof attainder. The true defini- 
tion of a bill of attainder, is any bill providing for 
the infliction of punishment by Congress for po- 



6 



litical offenses, without the intervention of the 
judicial department of the Government — without 
legal trial. Such bills the Constitution prohibits 
and forbids, and takcscare to secure to the citizen 
a jury trial, and to secure him from being deprived 
of his pro[ierty without due process of law. Con- 
gress can as well pass a bill making it the duty of 
the President to order the seizure by such officers, 
military or civil, as he may designate, of all per- 
sons in the seceded Stales, and direct the officers 
so seizing them to hang them without the inter- 
vention of judge or jiiry»as they can pass this 1)111 
which makes it the tluty of the President to order 
sucli officers as he may designate, military or civil, 
to seize the property of the citizens of the seceded 
States, and confiscate it. 

But, say the advocates of confiscation, there 
ought to be such a power, and therefore we will 
enact such a law. How dilferent such sentiments 
from those given us by the Father of his Country. 
Washington says: 

" ir, in the opinion of the people, tlieilistribution ormod- 
inc:ttion of constitutional powers l)e wrong In any partic- 
ular, lot it be corrected hy an amendineiit in the way wliich 
the ConstitiUion designates. But let there be no change hy 
usiirpntion; lor though tliis in one instance may be the in- 
strument ol" good, it is the customary weapon by which 
free governments are destroyed. The precedent must al- 
ways greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or 
transit-lit benefit which the use can at any time yield." 

Mr. President, the advocates of this bill would 
have us believe that although in time of peace llie 
Constitution is the paramount law of llie land, in 
timeof war it ceases to be of binding obligation, and 
tlierefore feeling the want of constitutional power 
they seek to show, by citations from Groiius and 
others, that such a ineasure is authorized by the 
law of nations, forgetting that the laws of war fix 
the rules by which separate and independent na- 
tions are to be governed when engaged in war with 
each other. Senators who contend for the power 
to enact this bill ignore the great fact which lies at 
the foundation of all oi\r institutions, that this is 
aGovcrnmentof limited powers, clearly defined in 
a wrilter. Constitution forbidding the exercise of 
any power not authorized by it, and denymg to 
the legislative branch of the Government the au- 
thority to enact any law which is not authorized 
by a grant of power. 

It is unnecessary to detain the Senate by a ref- 
erence to authorities to show that this is a Gov- 
ernment nf limited powers, such as I have stated 
it to be. It is an admitted truth that no man, 1 take 
it, at this day will dispute. But, Mr. President, 
I deny that the laws of war authorize any such 
measure as this bill proposes; and I go further, and 
deny that even if sanctioned by the laws of war 
Congress could enact any sucii law, unless the 
power were given in the Constitution. I deny, as 
Senators seem to sup[)ose, that in limt' of rebel- 
lion the Constitution is a dead letter. I deny 
what the rebels assert, and what Senators seem to 
admit, that the act of rebellion has destroyed con- 
stitutional government, and left us at the mercy 
of the unrestrained will of Congress. Let us see 
what Vattel says of these confiscation proposi- 
tions. In speaking of the ancient rules of war, 
he says: 

" But at present war is less dreadful in its consequences 
to the subject ; matters are conducted with more humanity ; 



one sovereign makes war against another sovereign, and 
not against the unarmed citizens. 'J'he conqueror seizes 
on the possessions of the State, the pul)lic property, while 
privBle individuals are permitted to retain theirs. They 
suffer but indirectly by the war; and the conquest only sub- 
jects them to a new master. 

" IJiU if the entire State be conquered, if the nation be 
subdued, in what manner can the victor treat it, without 
transgressing the bounds of justice.' What are his riglitH 
over the conquered country.' Some liave dared to advance 
this nifuistrous principle, that the conqueror is ab.-tolutc mas- 
ter of /is conquest; that he may dispose of it as his prop- 
erty; tliat fie may treat it as he pleases, according to the 
common expression of /?ff/<(7ti: a State as a conguercil covrt- 
try ; and hence they derive one of tlie .sources of despotic 
goverinnent." — fattens Law of Nations, book 3, chap. 13, 
sees. 200,201. 

In pursuing the same subject, lie says: 

" But if the conqueror thinks proper to retain Ilie sover- 
eignty of the conquered State, and has a right to retain it, 
the same principle must also determine the manner in which 
he is to treat that State. If it is against the sovereign alone 
that he has just cause of complaint, reason plainly evinces 
that he acquires no other rights by liis con(|uest llian sucli 
as belonged to the sovereign whom he has dispossessed, and, 
on the submission of the people, he is bonndto sovcrnlhem 
accorilins; to the laws of the State. ^^ — falters Law of Na 
tions, book 3, chap. 13, sec. 201. 

Without detaining the Senate, I will read the 
concluding sentence of another j)aragraph on the 
same subject, wherein the writer says: 

" Surely it is enougli that an innocent people sufTer the 
calamities of war: must even peace itself become fatal to 
them V'—Ibid., book 3, chap. 13, sec. 390. 

And again he says: 

" For the same reason, he who declares war does not con- 
fiscate the immovable property" — 

this bill proposes to do that — 

"possessed in his country by his enemy's subjects. By 
permitting them to purchase iind possess such property, he 
lias in that respect admitted them into the number of his 
subjects." — IhiJ., book 3, chap. 5, see. 323. 

Justice Story, in treating of the clause in the 
Constitution giving to Congress power to punish 
treason, but forbidding the forfeiture of the estate 
for a longer period than life, says: 

"Two motives probably concurred in introducing it as 
an e.vpre.ss power. One was, not to leave it open to impli- 
cation whether it was to be exclusively punishable with 
death, according to the known rule of the common law, and 
with the barbarous accompaniments pointed out by it, but 
to confide the punishment to the discretion of Congress. 
The other was, to impose some limitation upon the nature 
and extent of the punishment, so that it should not work 
corruption of blood or forfeiture beyond the life of the 
oftender." — Story on the Constitulion , book 3, sec. 1297. 

Again, he says: 

" IJills of attainder, as they are technically called, are 
such special acts of the legislature as inflict capital punish- 
ments upon persons supposed to be guilty of high offenses, 
such as treason and felony, without any conviction in the 
ordinarj- course of judicial proceedings." — /6i(/.,bouk3,sec. 
1314. 

I will not detain the Senate by reading the 
whole paragraph, but I will call the attention of 
the Senate to this: 

"The punishment has often been inflicted without call- 
ing upoii the party accused to answer, or without even the 
formality of proof; and sometimes, because the law, in its 
ordinary course of proceedings, would acquit the offender. . 
The injustice and iniquity of such acts, in general, con- 
stitute an irresistible argument against the existence of the 
power. Ill a free Government it would be intolerable ; and 
in the hands of a reigning faction it might be, and probably 
would be, abused to the ruin and deatii of the most virtu- 
ous citizens." — Itiicf., book 3, sec. 1344. 

Mr. President, this bill does not forfeit thepri- 



vate property of alien enemies, inhabitants of the 
enemy's country, but it proposes to take all the 
property belonging to our own citizens who have 
been compelled to submit to a power they could 
not resist, which claims to be both a de facto and a 
dejure government, and which docs possess the 
physical force to compel obedience to it from those 
within its limits. This Government — the Federal 
Government — which claims the allegiance of these 
citizens has been unable to relieve tiiem or to pro- 
tect them in their assertion of that allegiance. Are 
not allegiance and protection mutual obligations, 
and when you fail to afford the one will you pun- 
ish for the want of the othei-, when it was not in 
the power of the citizen to give it, and when, if 
proclaimed, it would have cost him his life? 

It should never be forgotten, but always borne 
in mind, that the struggle in which we are en- 
gaged is not on our part, constitutionally speak- 
ing, a war. We are not engaged in war. Con- 
gress makes war, declares war. Congress has 
made no such declaration; nor has Congress de- 
clared, as in the case of the war with Mexico, that 
war exists. When we speak of war generally we 
mean public war. If we do not, we use some ex- 
pression to define the kind of war of which we 
speak, as civil war, servile war, and the like. The 
war spoken of by the writers on the laws of war 
quoted in this debate is public war, that which 
takes place between nations or sovereigns, where 
one nation seeks to enforce its alleged righ ts again st 
another and separate nation; where, in the lan- 
guage of Scripture, "nation lifts up the sword 
against nation." The struggle in which we are now 
engaged is not, strictly speaking, even a civil war; 
but is, on our part, an effort to suppress insur- 
rection, as an extract from Vattel will show. The 
war of tiie Revolution was a civil war. Why? 
Because there was justice on the side of those who 
were in rebellion. They had right on their side; 
and whenever you speak of a civil war to a man 
who understands its definition, you admit that 
there is some justice for that war. I deny that 
there is any justice for this rebellion. It is an 
unholy and wicked effort on the part of ambitious 
men to enslave the people and make them sub- 
servient to their own wicked purposes. Senators 
will mark the distinction which Vattel makes, be- 
cause I shall call their attention to the definition 
of insurrection presently: 

'^Tlie name ofrcbels isgiven to all sulijects wlioinijustly 
take up arms ai^ainsttlie ruler of the society, whether their 
view be to deprive him of the supreme authority, or to 
resist his commands in some particular instance, and to 
impose coiulition.s on him." 

Sir, are not these people rebels? 

" A popular commotion in a concourse of people who as- 
>f'nibli; ill a luinuU.iious manner, and refuse to listen to tlie 
voice of their superiors, whether the design of the assem- 
bled multitude be leveled against the superiors themselves, 
or only against some private individuals. Violent commo- 
tions of this kind take place when the people think them- 
selves aggrieved, and there is no order of men who so fre- 
quently give rise to them as tlie tax-gatherers. If the rage 
of tile malcontents be particularly leveled at the magistrates, 
or others vested with the public authority, and they proceed 
tea formal disobedience or acts of open violence, this is 
called a sedition. When the evil spreads, when it infects 
the majority of the inhabitants of a city or provnice, and 
gains such strength that even tlie sovereign is no longer 
obeyed, it is usual more particularly to distingiiisli such a 



disorder by tlie n.ime of insurrection." — Valtel, book 3, 
chap. 18, sees. 288, '289. 

Now, what is the definition of civil war? 

" When a party is formed in a State who no longer obey 
the sovereign, anil are possessed of sufficient strength to op- 
pose him— or wlien, in a republic, the nation is divided into 
two opposite factions, and both sides take up arms — this is 
called a civil war. Some writers confine this term to a just 
insurrection of the subjects against their sovereign, to dis- 
tinguish that lawful resistance from rebellion, which is an 
open and unjust resistance. But what appellation will they 
give to a war which arises in a republic torn by two fac- 
tions, or in }i monarchy, between two competitors for the 
crown.' Cns'toni appropriates the term of 'civil war' to 
every war between the members of one and the same po- 
litical society. If it be between part of the citizens on one 
side, and the sovereign with those who continue in obedi- 
ence to him on the other, provided the malcontents have 
any reason " — 

mark — 

"for taking up arms, nothing further is required to entitle 
such disturliance to tiie name o[ civil war, and not that of re- 
hellion. — VutteVs Law of Nations, book 3, chap. 18, sec. 292. 

Sir, I deny that this is a civil war. I deny that 
there was anything to justify the men who inau- 
gurated it. I pronounce it a rebellion, and those 
who are engaged in it are rebels. 

1 deny, therefore, that if Congress were not 
restrained by the Constitution the laws of war 
would authorize or justify the enactment of such a 
law as the bill proposes; but whether right or 
wrong in this proposition, I plant myself upon the 
Constitution, deny the power, and challenge con- 
tradiction. I assert what will not be denied, that, 
prior to the rebellion, the advocates of this bill 
themselves admitted the want of power in Con- 
gress to interfere with slavery, or to change the 
status of the slave in the slaveholding States. No 
Senator has shown, or can show, any grant of 
power in the Constitution to warrant the enact- 
ment of such a law, or from which the power to 
do so is deducible. The want of such a power is 
conclusive, and should end the discussion. 

1 will read, however, from the eighty-fourth 
number of the Federalist, written by Mr. Hamil- 
ton, who certainly is believed at this d^y to have~ 
claimed as large powers as the most Fatitudinous 
constructioti could give to the Conatitution. He 
is endeavoring to show why a bill of rights was 
not necessary: 

" I go further, and afTirm that bills of rights, in the sense 
and to the extent they are contended for, are not only un- 
necessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be 
dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to 
powers not granted ; and on this very account would afford 
a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For 
why declare that things shall not be done, which there ia 
no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that 
the liberty of the press sliall not be restrained, vvlien no 
power is given by wiiich restrictions may be imposed.'"' — 
Federalist, p. 53o. 

Again, I call the attention of Senators to the 
very first section of the first article of the Consti- 
tution itself: 

" All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in 
a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a 
Senate and House of Representatives." 

Then, sir, it is only the legislative power gran ted 
in the instrument that the Senate and House of 
Representatives can exercise, and none other. I 
go further, and show that not only is there no 
such power given in the Constitution, but the ex- 



I 



8 



ercise of such a power is expressly forbidden; 
first by the clause declaring that 

" No bill of altaimirr or ex post facto law shall he passed." 

Again, by the clause declaring, 

'• Tlio Congress shall have power to ilrdare flic prinisli- 
ment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work cor- 
ruption of blood or forfeiture, except during the life of the 
person attainted." 

Again, by the fifth article of the amendments, 
" No person shall be held to answer for a capital or other- 
wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indict- 
ment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or 
naval forces or in the militia when in aclual service In time 
of war or public danger; nor shall aiiypiTson be subject for 
the same ofTcnse to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; 
nor shall be compelled in anycriminal ease to hea witness 
;igainst himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property 
without due process of law ; nor shall private property be 
taken for public use without just compensation." 

Again, by the seventh article of the amendments: 

'•In suits at common law, where the vahu; in contro- 
versy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury 
shall be preserved ; and no fact tried by a jury shall be other- 
wise reexamined in any court of the United States than 
according to the rules of the eoinmoii law." 

Where but twenty dollars is involved, the right 
of trial by jury is secured, and admitted to be se- 
cured by the Constitution; and yet under this bill 
all that the citizen may hMV<; is swept from him 
without even the first process known to our courts 
being served upon him. 

It is incumbent upon Senators who, prior to the 
rebellion, admitted that Congress could not inter- 
fere with slavery in the States where it exists, but 
who are now the advocates of this bill, to show 
the clause in the Constitution conferring upon 
Congress the power claimed. Congress has the 
power to legislate for the suppression of insurrec- 
tion, but the insurrection nmstbe suppressed and 
the rebellion put down by constitutional means, 
and in a constitutional way, otherwise all that 
would be necessary to overthrow the Constitution 
and destroy the Government under it, would be 
to incite insurrection. If Congress were not to 
suppress insurrection by constitutional means and 
in a constitutional way, there would bo nothing 
for the loyal citizen to fight for. He readily obeys 
his country's c,ill,and enrolls himself in its mili- 
tary service. Why, and for what? That the Con- 
stitution may be overthrown, that his fellow-citi- 
zens in th(; rebellious States may be deprived of 
their constitutional rights secured to them by the 
common bond? No, sir; God forbid. He takes 
up arms for no such purpose; he enlists under the 
banner of his country to uphold itarid all the rights 
of which it is the emblem. He spills his blood 
that the constitutional Government under which 
he has lived may be preserved, and all his consti- 
tutional rights maintained. It was for this, and 
this alone, as I know full well, that the brave Lan- 
der sacrificed his life. Patriot soldier he was. 
Long will his memory live in the hearts of the 
loyal pco|ile of my State. He it was that led our 
troops to battle and to victory at Pliilippa and Rich 
Mountain. It is one of the proudest recollections 
of my life that I urged upon the President and his 
Cabinet his noinination as brigadier general. I 
reflect with satisfaction upon my agency in pro- 
curing his nomination. I will not now check the 
unbidden tear that fills my eyes while I recall be- 



fore me his manly form and reflect upon his heroic 
courage. No man ever guarded more carefully the 
honor of his country, or more scrupulously pro- 
tected the riglits of private property. 

Mr. President, Massachusetts 's son was made a 
Virginia brigadier. Your records will show that 
it was Frederick W. Lander, of Virginia, that the 
President nominated and the Senate confirmed. 
Virginia adopted him as her son, and she claims 
the privilege to mingle her tears with those of his 
own native State. This is as it should be between 
States united as are the States of this Union, 
under one Constitution, having one country and 
one destiny. Let us remember that to the united 
efforts, in warandin peace, of Massachusetts and 
Virginia and their sister States we are indebted for 
our glorious Constitution. I would acknowledge 
also our indebtedness to Massachusetts for loan- 
ing to us, through her Governor, in our darkest 
hour last spring, two thousand stand of arms. 
Such recollections are themes upon which I love 
to dwell. Would to God there had been in the past 
nothing inconsistent with the kind and friendly 
service to which I have referred. Let us bury 
forever all recollection of what has occurred to 
interrupt the kindly relations between the two old 
States or between the sections of our common 
country. Let us again be a united and a happy 
people, animated by that fraternal feeling so ne- 
cessary to our peace and prosperity as a nation. 
God grant that again we may be bound together 
by the silken cord of brotherly love, never to be 
broken; each State vieing with the other in the 
kindly discharge of every constitutional obligation 
and all frowning indignantly upon the first dawn- 
ing of any attempt to alienate the sections or to 
disturb the harmony of the whole. 

Mr. President, the Senator from Maine the 
other day argued that we were engaged in a war, 
and contended that Congress had the power to do 
what he said the law of nations authorized sov- 
ereign and independent nations engaged in public 
war to do. Assuming his positions, he argued to 
prove what the rebels have been striving to make 
I' the world believe, that the so-called confederate 
j States were a nation and an independent Power, 
11 entitled to be recognized as a belligerent Power, 
i and therefoi-e, according to his assumption, as we 
j have the right to confiscate the projierty of a bel- 
I ligerent Power, we have the right to pass this bill 
i| and confiscate, not the property of the belliger- 
I ent, but all the property, lands, and goods of pri- 
t vate individuals inhabiting the domain over which 
j the government of this belligerent Power extends. 
'] If the Senator be right, we should cease to com- 
ij plain of England for so far recognizing the so- 
jj called confederate States as a belligerent as to 
j maintain a neutral position between us. 
I TheSenator from Maine follows the Represent- 
'i ativc from Kansas, from whose speech I have 
li quoted, and contends that the conduct of the rebels 
I' invests this nation with the high prerogatives of 
war. In other words the unconstitutional acts of 
rebels confer upon Congress powers not dele- 
gated by the Constitution. I humbly submit to 
the Senator if he has not done what no foreign 
Govertiment has yet done, and what we would be 
ready to resent if any foreign Government were 



9 



to do — recognized by his speech the pretended 
confederate government. He has gratified the 
conspirators by dignifying their rebellious acts 
into acts of war. He would concede to them what 
they claim, that they are not engaged in rebellion, 
but in waging war against a foreign Government; 
for the Senator from Maine has arrived at the con- 
clusion, to use liis own language, that we are in a 
elate of involuntary war with a belligerent Power, 
and therefore he would confiscate tlie property, 
not of the belligerent, for the belligere-./t has none 
— the custom-houses, forts, dock-yards, mints, 
&.C., are ours — but he would confiscate the prop- 
erty and free tiie slaves of private individuals. I 
confess I do not understand the Senator's logic. 
We are not at war, Mr. President, with a belliger- 
ent Power, but with rebellious citizens. The Sen- 
ator from Maine asivs how shall it ever be known 
when we arc in a state of war? 1 reply. Con- 
gress will inform him. The Constitution confers 
upon Congress the power to declare war. 

I object to this bill because it violates an ex- 
press provision of the Constitution in this: the 
Constitution declares that no person shall be de- 
prived of life, liberty, or property without due 
process of law, and that private property shall not 
be taken for public use without just compensa- 
tion. This bill, as the Senator from Illinois ex- 
plained a little while ago, without judicial accu- 
sation or trial, would sweep from the entire pop- 
ulation of the seceded States the property of every 
person residing therein. It dispenses with the 
judicial tribunals of the country, condemns with- 
out a hearing, and punishes without a trial. In 
short, it does what the Constitution expressly for- 
bids — executes itself. I inquire, was there ever 
before such a proposition submitted to any legis- 
lative assembly in any civilized country on the 
face of the earth? 

In the same letter, to which I before referred , 
Mr. Hamilton quotes Justice Blackstone: 

" To beroavo a man of life," says he, " or by violence to 
confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be 
so gross and notorious an act of despotism as must at once 
convey the alarm of tyranny througlyout tlie whole nation ; 
but confinement of thi! person by secretly hurrying liini to 
jail, where liis sulVerings are unknown or forgotten, is a less 
public, a less striking, and tlierefore a more dangerous en- 
^inc of arbitrary Government." 

And as a remedy for this fatal evil, he is every- 
where peculiarly emphatical in his encomiums on 
the habeas corpus act, which in one place he calls 
" the BULWARK of the British constitution." (Fed- 
eralist, p. 533.) 

This paragraph from Justice Blackstone cited, 
as I have shown, by Mr. Hamilton, in the num- 
ber of the Federalist to which I have referred, 
shows conclu.si vely that such a proposition as this 
would not be authorized by the Constitution, and 
would be exercised only by the veriest despotism. 

The fi'iends of this measure contend that it is 
necessary to the suppression of the rebellion. 
How can this be? It can only be enforced where 
rebellion has never existed, or where it has been 
suppressed. How can you execute this law in 
those States and districts where all your laws are 
successfully resisted? Before you confiscate the 
property of rebels you must first be able to pos- 
sess yourselves of it. You can only do this where 




u J 1 1 .nentwRl 

your armies have preceded you, and wl "snea 
rebels have been dispersed. This bill car^=^ taste 
enforced in the districts occupied by youJd, as t the 
or by loyal citizens who i-ecognize their id of taka- 
tion to the Constitution and laws, and wh^'jlj j'djq 
aid you in their enforcement. If the mere i>ntrv 
sage of an act would put down the rebellion, ai..^ 
you have to do is to pass an act confiscating all 
the powder in the seceded States, and the rebellion 
is ended at once. The absurdity of such an cifect 
to be produced by the mere passage of a bill to 
operate in States where you are unable to enforce 
any law must be apparent to all. This bill, if it 
become a law, like all of your laws, will remain 
upon your statute-book, a dead letter in the se- 
ceded States until you shall have crushed out the 
rebellion and suppressed the insurrection. When 
that is done, this bill cannot aid in suppressing 
what is not in existence. 

Mr. President, is it expedient to beggar six 
millions of your people? Will the avowal of such 
a purpose have the effect to stiengthen the loyal 
sentiment of the seceded States? Will it confirm 
and bring to your aid the hesitating and doubtful, 
or will it not rather, if that be possible, make 
more desperate those now arrayed against you, 
increase their power, and bring to them an active 
strength that has up to this time kept aloof from 
the struggle? What will be its effect upon the 
thousands that have been impressed into the rebel 
army who are now anxiously looking for an op- 
portunity to rush to your standard? There is 
scarcely a family of any size in all the loyal por- 
tion of my State that has not one or more mem- 
bers of it, or some one connected with it in the 
rebel service, or who have not in sorne way aided 
the rebellion. It has divided parents from their 
children, brotherfrom brother, and separated hus- 
band and wife. I will, with the permission of the 
Senate, read an extract from a letter 1 received 
yesterday from a highly respectable lady, a resi- 
dent of north western Virginia, a daughter of a late 
judge of the United States, and a grand-d/,^ughter 
of a former Governor of the State of Ohio, and a 
member of the Cabinets of Mr. Madison and Mr. 
Monroe. 

" I have never had a line from my husband since last 
August, and am not in communieation with him at all. It 

is only through Mrs. , who returned a fortnight ago, that 

I know his whereabouts. I do not and never have tliought 
secession a practical or desirable move. I have been her« 
with my children making every effiirt to send or to go to 
Dixie to induce him to return. You know that 1 was pos- 
sessed of sufficient means to at least live comfonably before 
our marriage, but as it consisted ofnotes,honds, and money, 
it has been almost all reconverted into other property, and 
can be all taken. I cannot believe it is the intoition and 
desire of the wise and humane rulers of this country to 
throw upon the world without means of subsistence unof- 
fending women and innocent children." 

Mr. President, is it expedient to deprive de- 
crepid age and helpless infancy of the means of 
support? If we do this thing, the cry of the widow 
and the wail of the orphan will go up to heaven, 
and the God of the widow and the Father of the 
fatherless will say in the storm-cloud: "Venge- 
ance is mine, and I will repay, saith the Lord." 

The incendiary press of this country seize upon 
the hour that exhibits to the gaze of the world the 
heart-rending spectacle of the only Government on 



ercise of s 
first by tl— 

" No bill here man enjoys as much liberty as is con- 
A'^ain with his iiaiiue, stru^glinf^ for existence, 
'•Till' c'"'*^ '^'^'•^ '" "^"^ difficulties by reviving sec- 
mciitofi feuds by which we have been torn and dis- 
ruptloii..-d in order to secure the acconiplislimcnt of 
P^'"*""'wislies of those who have for years denounced 
iftc Constitution of Wasliington and iiis compa- 
triots as i\ covenant with death and a league with 
hell. This, too, at a moment when the efforts of 
all should be directed to tiie single object of ex- 
tinguishing the flames lighted by the fires of rebel- 
lion. The temple of liberty is on fire, and instead 
of an honest effort on the part of all to save the 
noble structure, the anti-slavery element is en- 
gaged in an unholy effort to destroy the southern 
wing, not seeming to know or care that the de- 
struction of part involves the loss of the whole. 
The rebels have applied the torch, and the anti- 
slavery element say, let it go, unless the entire 
southern portion is shorn of its fair proportions, 
its dimensions narrowed and contracted, and its 
occupants made dependent upon our will and sub- 
servient to our views. These are they who at- 
tribute this wicked rebellion to the existence ot 
slavery, and who, by misrepresentations, would 
lead the people tliey ought to honestly instruct to 
war upon the Constitution. From such teachings 
we are warned by the Father of his Country in 
his Farewell Address — 

■•Oneol' tlic expedients of party to acquire influence 
witliin [(artloiilar (listrict^s is to misrepresent the opinions 
and aims of otlicr districts." 

These are they who say if there had been no 
slavery there would have been no reljellion. As 
well might they attribute the rebellion to the 
Union, for if there had been no Union there would 
have been no rebellion against it. Has the coun- 
try torgolten that thirty years ago a similar at- 
tempt at rebellion was initiated, and would have 
grown to as great proportions, [)erhaf)s, as the 
present, if a Buchanan instead of a Jackson had 
bee:i the Clii(;f JVIagistrnte ? And do we not know 
liwi t\\f. tariff was then the pretext? Who, at that 
day, ih'sisted that commerce should be destroyed, 
or said if there had been no commerce there would 
have been no attempt at rebellion ? No, Mr. Pres- 
ident, Mr. Yancey and his associates spoke tlie 
truth when they wrote to the British minister " that 
it was from i!0 fear that the slaves would be lib- 
erated tliat secession took place. " The true cause, 
the real motive, is the same that influences the 
men v/ho now clamor that this shall be made an 
anti-slavery war. They would convert the lioly 
struggle in which we are engaged for a restoration 
of the Union into a wicked crusade againstslavcry, 
bringing down upon us the just vengeance of a 
righteous God and the denunciations of the whole 
civilized world. So long as our efforts are con- 
fined to a vindication of the Constitution and a 
restoration of the Union, we have the sympathies 
of the good throughout the earth, and, 1 sincerely 
believe, the approval of Heaven; for are we not 
engaged in a struggle to maintain religious as well 
as civil liberty.' The cause of the rebellion was a 
determination on the part of its authors to rule 
or ruin. The opposition to a restoration of the 
Union is to be attributed to the same cause. The 
restoration of the Union buries in the same grave 



10 



abolitionists and secessionists. In life their labors 
have tended to the same end; it is fitting that they 
should be consigned to the saine grave. May 
Heaven speed their demise. 

Mr. President, it is for us to preserve the best 
Governrnent on earth, and to keep inviolate our 
plighted faith. The passage of this bill would be 
a violation of the nation's faith as pledged through 
the Executive and Congress, and a fraud upon 
our people. What was the call of the President 
to which->your citizen soldiers so promptly re- 
sponded' Was it not to aid him in the enforce- 
ment of the laws, protect the nation's property, 
and to enable him to keep his oath of office, l)y 
which he swore to preserve, protect, and defend 
the Constitution, and to see that the laws were 
faithfully executed.' Did not the President in his 
inaugural address declare: 

"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere 
with the iiistitiuion of slavery in the States where It exists. 
I belit've I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no in- 
clination to do KO.'- 

And did he not, in liis annual message to Con- 
gress, in July last, say: 

'• Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid 
men as to what is tlie course of the Government towards 
the soiitlicrn States, after the rebellion shall liavebeen sup- 
pressed, the Executive deems it proper to say it will he his 
purpose then, as ever, to he guided by the Constitution and 
the laws ; and that he will probably have no dirt'erent under- 
standing of the powers and duties of the Federal Govern- 
ment relating to the rights of the Statfs and the people 
under the Constitution, than that expressed in the inaugural 
address." 

Did not your present General-in-Chief, in May 
last, v/hen he entered my State at the head of 
our brave friends from Oliio and Indiana who re- 
sponded to the President's call, assure us that he 
caine not to make war upon us or our institutions, 
but that he catne to crush out treason and deliver 
us from the power of traitors. Hear him: 

" Notwitlistandins all that has been said by the traitors 
to induce you to br^liuve that our advent among you will be 
signalized by intiirference with yourslaves, umlorstand one 
thing clearly, not only will we abstain from all such inter- 
ference, hut we will, on the contrary, with an iron hand, 
crush any attempt at insurrection on their part." 

What was the mission of the brave Burnsidc, 
and the equally brave Goldsborough, as declared 
by them to the people of North Carolina.' They 
shall speak for themselves: 

Roanoke Island, North Carolina, 
February 18, 186^. 
To the People of North Carolina: 

The mission of our joint expedition is not to invade any 
of your rights, but to assert the autliority of the United 
States, ,111(1 to close with you the desolating war brought 
upon your State by comparatively a few bad men in your 
midst. 

Influenced infinitely more by the worst passions of hu- 
man nature (lian by any show of elevated reason, they are 
still urging you astray to gratify their unholy purposes. 

They in)pos(! upon your credulity by telling you of wicked 
and oven diabolical intentions on our part; of our desire to 
destroy your freedom, demolish your property, liberate your 
slaves, injure your women, and snoli like enormities— all 
of which, we assure you, is not only ridiculous, but utterly 
and willfully false. 

We are ('hristians as well as yourselves, and we profes.« 
to know full well, and to feel profoundly, the sacred obliga- 
tions of the character. 

No apprehensions need be entertained that the demandii 
of huinunlty or justice will be disregarded. We ahall in- 
diet no injury, unless forced to do .so by your own acts, 
and upon this you may confidently reJy. 



11 



J. hose men are your worst enemies. They, in truth, have 
idr;iwii you into your present condition, and are the real 
disturbers of your peace and the liappiness of your firesides. 
We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, and in 
that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate your- 
selves at once from these malign influences, to return to 
your allegiance, and not compel us to resort further to the 
force under our control. 

The Government asks only tliat its authority may be rec- 
ognized ; and we repeat, in no manner or way does it de- 
sire to interfere with your laws, constitutionally established, 
your institutions of any kind whatever, your property of 
any sort, or vour usages in any respect. 

■ L. M. GOI.DSBOROUGH, Flag Officer, 
CommandiHs, North Carolina Blockading Squadron. 
A. E. BUliNSIUE, Brigadier General. 
Commanding Department of North Carolina. 

What was the order of the acconiplisheil officer, 
g:allani soldier, and I may add, enliglitened states- 
ttian, General Halleck, as his troops were about 
to advance into Tennessee.' 

Proclamation of General Halleck. 

ME.4.DQnARTERS DePAUT.MKNT OF MISSOURI, 

St. Lovis, February ^^. 

The major general oommanding the department ilesiros 
to impress upon all officers the importance of preserving 
good order and discipline among their troa))s as the armies of 
the West advance into Tennessee and the southern States. 

liPt us show to our fellow-citizens in those States that 
we come merely to crush out rebellion, and restore to them 
peace and the benetits of the Constitution and the Union, 
of which they have been deprived by selfish and unprinci- 
pled leaders. They have been told that we come to oppress 
and plunder. By our acts we will undeceive them. We 
will prove to them that we come to restore, not to violat'.', 
tile Constitution and the laws. In restoring to them the glo- 
rious flag of the Union, we will assure them that they shall 
enjoy under its folds the same protection of life and prop- 
erty as in former days. 

Soldiers ! let no excess on your part tarnish the glory of 
our arms ! 

The order heretofore issued in this department, in regard 
to pillaging and marauding, the destruction of private prop- 
erty, and the stealing or concealment of slaves, must be 
strictly enforced. Itdoes not belong to the military to de- 
cide upon the relation of master and slave. Huoh questions 
must be settled by the civil coints. No fugitive slave will 
tlierefore be admitted within our lines or camps, except 
when specially ordered by the general commanding. 

Women and children, merchants, farmers, mechanics, 
and all persons not in arms, are regarded as non-combat- 
iints, and are not to be molested either in their persons or 
property, ff, however, they aid and assist the enemy, they 
become belligerents, and will be treated as such. As they 
violate the lliws of war, they will be made to sutler the 
penalties of such violation. 

iMilitary stores and the public property of the enemy must 
be surrendered, and any attempt to conceal such property, 
by franduU nt transfer or otherwise, will be punished, but 
no private property will be touched unless by order of the 
general coinmandiiig. Wherever it becomes necessary to 
obtain forced contributions I'or the supply and subsistence 
of our troops, such levies will be made as light as possible, 
and be so distributed as to produce no distress among the 
people. All property so taken must be receipted and fully 
accounted for, as heretofore directed. 

These orders will be read at the head of every regiment, 
and all officers are commanded to strictly enforce tiiem. 

Bv command of Major G(!neral Halleck. 

N. H. McLEAN, Jidjvtant General. 

How did Congress speak in February, 1861, 
upon the motion, 1 believe, of my friend from 
Ohio, [Mr. Sherman:] 

•• Resolved, That neither the Federal Govcrninent nor the 
peopleor governments of the non-slaveholding States liave 
a purpose or a constitutional right to legislate upon or in- 
terfere with slavery in .•my of the Stales of the Union. 

" Resolved, That those "persons in the North who do not 
subscribe to the foregoing proposition, are too insignificant 
ill numbers and influence to excite the serious attention or 
alarm of any portion of the people of the Kepublic, and that 
the increase of their numbers and influence does not keep 



pace with the increase oi' the aggregate population of the 
Union." 

How, again, did Coiigrcs.s speak in July last, in 
the House of Representatives, upon the motion of 
the hero, patriot, and sage, tlie venerable Crit- 
tenden: 

" Resolved liy the House of Rejircsentatives of the Congresi 
of the United States, 'J'liat the present deplorable civil war 
has been t'orced upon the country by the disunionists of the 
southern States, now in arms against the constitutional 
Government, and in arms around the capital ; that in this 
national en^^gency, Congress, banishing all feelings of 
mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to 
the whole country ; that this war is not waged on their part 
in any spirit of oppression, or for any purpose of conquest 
or subjugation, or purpose of overthrowing or interfering 
with the rights or established institutions of those States, 
but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitu- 
tion, and to preserve tiie Union with all the dignity, equal- 
ity, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that 
as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to 
cease."- — Journal House of Rejircsentatives, first session, 
Thirty-Seventh Congress, p. \-i'.i. 

Shall it be said that this resolution was adopted 
under the fearful excitement growing out of the 
battle of the day before, at Bull Run.' No, sir; 
never will the nation allow any such intimation 
to be made against its honor. What said the 
Senate in July last upon the motion of the distin- 
guished Senator from Tennes.see, [iVIr. Johns ON i*] 
" iJeso/ic?, That the present deplorable civil warhas been 
forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern 
States, now in revolt against the constitutional Government 
and inarms around the capital; that in this national emer- 
gency Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or re- 
sentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole coun- 
try ; that this war is not piosecuted upon our part in any 
spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose ol'conquestorsub- 
jugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with 
the rights or established institutions of those States, but to 
defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and 
all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the 
Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the sev- 
eral States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are 
accomplished the war ought to cease." — Senate Journal, 
first session Thirty-Seventh Congress, pp. 84, 85. 

Now, I call the attention of the Senate to the vote 
upon that resolution. Every Senator present and 
voting, save one, voted for that resolutio !t is^ 
significant, and the country should know who it 
was that, on the 25th day of July, refused to vote 
for that resolution. Breckinridge, now an open 
traitorat the head of rebel forces, Johnson of INlis- 
souri, in the saino position, Polk, in the same po- 
sition, Powell, and Trumbull. I was about to 
do my friend from Illinois, the chairman of the 
Judiciary Committee, injustice. I find, what I did 
not notice before, that his name is recorded with 
the names of Breckinridge, Johnson of Missouri, 
Polk, and Powell, against the resolution. He 
is consistent, I must confess. 

Mr. President, what did the distinguished gen- 
tleman at the head of the State Department, Mr. 
i Seward, in his letter of instructions, in April last, 
i to Mr. Dayton, our minister to Paris, say: 
I '• I need not further elaborate the proposition that the rev- 
I olution is without a cause. It has not even a pretext. It 
' is just as clear that it is without an object. Moral and 
physical causes have determined inflexibly the character 
of each one of the Territories over which the dispute has 
arisen, and botli parties, after the election, harmoniously 
agreed on all the Federal laws required tor their organiza- 
tion. The Territories will remain in all respects the sanw. 
whether the revolution shall succeed or shall fail. The con 
ditioii of slavery in the several States will remain just the 
same whether it succeed or fail. There is not even a pre 



12 



text for the cnmplaint that tlie disaffected States are to be 
conquered hy the ('iiited State? if the revolution fail; for 
the rights ofthe States and the condition of every human 
bcins in them will remain subject to exactly the same laws 
and ibrms of adnilnistranon whether the revolution shall 
succeed or fail. In the one case the Slates would be fed- 
erally connected with the new confederacy ; in the other 
they would, as now, lie members of the United States ; but 
their constitutions and laws, customs, habits, and Institu- 
tions in either case will remain the same. 

" It is hardly necessary to add to this incontestable state- 
ment the further fact that the new President, as well as the 
citizens through whose suffrages he h.ts come iirto the Ad- 
ministration, have always repudiated all de>''iiis whatever 
and whenever imputed "to him and them of disturbing; the 
system of slavery as it is existing under the Constitution 
and laws. The case, however, would not be fully pre- 
sented if I were to omit to say that any such effort on his 
part wr)ul(l be unconstitutional ; and ail his actions in that 
direction would be prevented by the judicial authority, even 
though they were assented to by Congress and the people." 

I respectfully call upon the Senator from Illi- 
noi.s, taking tlie position that lie does, to read at 
his leisure this la.st |naragraph quoted from our 
Secretary of State, a statesman who lias spent tiie 
greater portion of his life in the service of his 
country. 

Think you, Mr. President, that these declara- 
tions had notiiing to do with our successes at 
Roanoke, Fort Henry, and Fort Donelson.' I 
would not detract in the sliglitest degree from the 
honor won by our lirave soldiers, but I assert it 
as my honest belief that we owe mucji to the 
Union sentiment that was in the confederate ser- 
vice. If the rebel force had been animated by the 
spirit that inaugurated this rebellion, it would 
never have surrendered as it did, and it is the re- 
alization of this fact that made Jeff Davis admit in 
his message that they had undertaken more than 
they could achieve. The same fact was pressing 
upon the rebel ofRcer who wrote to the Richmond 
Examiner the extract 1 read: 

"The Roanoke alfair is perfectly incomprehensible. The 
newspapers are filled Willi extravagant laudations of our 
valor; the annals of Greece and Rome otl'er no parallel; 
whole regiments were defeated by companies, and we 
yielded only to death. Our men finally surrendered 'with 
noJjlQio on their bayonets,' and what is the loss.' Rich- 
mond bines, two killed and five wounded; McCulloeh 
Rangers, one killed and two wounded; the other four com- 
panies lost in all two killed and eleven wounded. Com- 
ment is needless. The whole army had better surrender at 
once, for it will eventually come to it." 

I think so, too. I concur in opinion with him. 

Let us never, Mr. President, violate our faith. 
It has been well remarked by soiine writer that the 
chief of all powers is moral power, and I belic've 
we owe more to-day to our moral position which 
we secured by the declarations I have read than 
we do to our armies, great as I know our obliga- 
tions are to thein, which obligations I take pleas- 
ure in acknowledging. Tliiiik you, Mr. Presi- 
dent, if General Halleck and Commodore Foote 
had announced to the people of Tennessee that 
their purpose was to confiscate their property and 
turn them houseless and homeless upon the world, 
and to free their slaves, Nashville and Clarksville 
would have been ours.' Would they not have been 
reduced to ashes, and would not their people liave 
rushed with eagerness to the field and arrayed 
themselves under the standard of rebellion ? Pass 
•his bill, disregard the tears of widowhood and the 
cry of orphans, visit upon the children to the third 
and fourth generation the sins of the father, im- 



Eoverish the wife and pauperize the child, as . 
ill proposes to do, and the mother, instead of tal{% 
ing upon her knee her lisping babe to instill into 
his infant mind sentiments of love for his country 
and gratitude for its beneficence, will cause her 
child to kneel by her side and swear undying hate 
and eternal hostility to the Government that took 
from her the means of support, and turned mother 
and child beggars upon the world. Pass this bill, 
and interminable, never-ending war will be the 
result. 

" Oh shame to men ! devil with devil damned 
Firm concord holds ; men only disagree 
Of creatures rational, though under hope 
Of heavenly grace, and God proclaiming peace, 
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife 
Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, 
Wasting the earth, each other to destroy." 

This bill proposes to do what the President for- 
bid General Fremont from doing, and what, in the 
opinionof the President, would have thrown Ken- 
tucky against us, and alarmed the Union men of 
the South. So impressed was the President of the 
danger to the cause of the country by the an- 
nouncement of such a policy, by a subordinate 
military officer, that he addressed to him the fol- 
lowing letter: 

Washington, D. C, September 2, 1861. 

My Dear Sir: Two points in your proclamation of 
August 'M give me some anxiety. 

First : Should you shoot a man, according to the procla- 
mation, the confederates would very certainly shoot our 
best men in their hands, in retaliation ; and so, man for 
man, indefinitely. It is, therefore, my order that you allow 
no man to be shot, under the proclamation, without first 
having my approbation or consent. 

Second: I think there is great danger that the closing 
paragraph, in reUuion to the confiscation of property, and ' 
iiberatini! slaves of traitorous owners, will alarm our 
southern Union friends, and turn them against us — perhaps 
ruin our rather fair prospect for Kentucky. Allow me, 
therefore, to ask that you will, as of your own motion, 
modify that paragraph so as to conform to theyirst and /'ourt/i 
sections of the act of Congress, entitled "An act to confis- 
cal<' pi cipirty used for insurrectionary purposes," approved 
August t), lb61, and a copy of which iict I herewith send 
you. This letter is written in a spirit of caution, not of cen- 
sure. I send it by a special messenger, in order that it may 
certainly and speedilv reach you. 

Yours very truly, " A. LINCOLN. 

To Major General Fremont. 

Mr. President, the path of duty is clear. Let 
us march steadily on observing the line of policy 
laid down by ourselves. Let us not violate our 
own solemn declarations by which we are bound 
not only to our own people but to the whole world. 
The declarations of our Chief Magistrate and our 
own solemn resolves have gone to the world, and 
have been read and approved of in Europe as well 
as upon this continent. We have a law for the 
punishment of treason; enforce it; try, convict, 
and hang by the neck the traitor leaders, the au- 
thors of this wicked conspirac)' to destroy our 
Government. Grant to the rank and file who have 
been seduced and unwillingly and unwillingly 
forced into t!ie rebellion a pardon for past offenses. 
Leave it to tlic loyal Legislatures of tlie States, 
which will have to bring back into the Union their 
respective States, to exclude from office all whose 
lives are spared, who willingly participated in this 
rebellion. In this way you will punish the guilty 
and protect the innocent. Soirnpressed was 1 with 
the importance of a declaration of policy such as 
I have briefly alluded to that, after the capture of 



/t Donelson,! called upon two gentlemen who 
uid reason to believe enjoyed the confidence of 
ne President, and asked them to urge upon liim 
the propriety of issuing a proclamation announc- 
ing such a policy as I have indicated. I believed 
that the hour of victory was the hour of magna- 
nimity, and I now believe if this had been done, 
we siiould have had peace in less than ninety days, 
be mistaken, but I am glad to find that in 
pinion I am not alone. Hon. James Guth- 
a speech the other day, expressed similar 
I will read an extract or two fr:m his 
s: 

s day"— 

>. was the 22d of February, the anniversary 
.shington's birthday — 

■ ''av, if the power was with me, an amnesty anil 
3uld be proclaimed to all, whether in arms 
.iO, in a prescribed time, give up their arms and 
jcl cause, acknowledge the supremacy of the Consti- 
.)« and the laws, and agree to submit to them. I am 
led what I would do vvitli the leaders.' I reply, 1 would 
\e them to the tribunals and the punishment prescribed 
lie laws they have violated, but I am for the largest for- 
less consistent with the restoration of the Constitution 
..il the safety of the Union. All are not leaders in this re- 
bellion who have acted a.s its noisy champions, through the 
press, or on the stump, or filled high places in the strife." 

"I would declare this amnesty and pardon as a war 
measure. It may draw thousands who feel that rebellion 
is not a remedy for existing or supposed evils, and are earn- 
estly and hopefully awaiting to escape, as far as possible, 
from the consequences of their acts. I would open the door 
for them. Many of the seceded States have always been 
for the Union, and only await the time they may safely take 
ground for it." 

I know, sir, my State has always been, and is 
to-day, if a fair expression of the opinion of her 
people could be had, for the Union by fifty thou- 
sand majority: 

" I would declare the amnesty and pardon as a financial 
measure — as a measure of economy in this most expensive 
and wasteful civil war. 1 believe it would act promptly in 
the restoration of the Constitution and the Union, and be 1 
more effective in rej<toring the Union than the most signal i 
victories our arms liave or shall obtain. If it shorten the j 
war but lifty oroi»e hundred days, it would save to the na- 
tion more than tf!n times the value of all the estates you I 
could possibly cr^nfiscate in accordance with the Constitu- 1 
tion." **.****.** ] 

" The worst enjimies of the Constitution are those whose 
constant cry ig for the blood of the rebels, and the confis- 
cation of their estates, with the emancipation of tlie slaves, 
and who, to reach their purposes, would trample the Con- 
stitution, the rights of property, and the principles of human- 
ity under foot, and blast forever the prosperity of the nation. 
Such men propose to establish, through congressional ac- 
tion, provisional governments over the seceded States." 

I invite the attention of Senators while I read 
an extract from the farewell address of General 
Jackson. I read it without comment. Senators 
•ill see the lesson which it teaches: ! 

Constitution cannot be maintained nor the Union [ 
opposition to public feeling, by the mere e.x- 
"ive powers confided to the Government. 1 
■t be laid in the afl'eetions of the peo- j 



pie ; in i .e sec 
property in evi 
nal attachme 
bear to each 
tributing to i. 



of one politi\. 
of each other." 



The Senate will pardon ine for a moment wh 
I allude to myself. I am not in the habit of speak- 
ing of myself. I do not think it in good taste, 
and look upon it as a custom more honored in the 
breach than the observance; but there are occa- 
sions when it beconnes necessary to do so. Inti- 
mations questioning my loyalty have been made 
by those who would impress upon the country 
that to be loyal it is necessary to be an abolition- 
ist. The Senate will, therefore pardon me for say- 
ing that I have periled all, life itself, in defense of 
the Constitution and Union of my country. I 
have been engaged in this fight actively since De- 
cember, 1859. I saw the storm coming, and sought 
to prepare the people of my own mountain home 
for it, so that when it did come we would be able 
to resist it. I stood in the capitol of my own State 
fighting the battles of the Constitution and the 
Union arnid the jeers and taunts, hisses and threats 
of the mob. From the 7lh day of March to the 
18th day of April, in the city of Richmond, thr 
assassins sought my life. On Saturday the 13' 
day of April last, a crowd of not less than 
hundred men, devils I will call them, came ' 
lodgings about midnight with drum and 
rope to hang me. My colleague in th. 
[Mr. Brown] witnessed the scene. Foi 
after my return to my own liome in my ow 
my life was threatened. When I would 
go to a neighboring county to address t 
pie, my friends would follow to guard mi 
road without informing me of it. I led th 
ment, and drew the resolution adopted by i 
pie of my own county of Harrison, to wl 
longs the honor of inaugurating the mo 
which resulted in organizing and makini, 
ive the Union sentiment of northwestern Vi 
Island here to-day in the nation'sCapi 
stood in the capitol of my State, to defi 
assault the Constitution and Union of r 
try, come from what quarter it may. i 
defense I am prepared to sacrifice all — life 
I stand upon the platform of the President a. 
nounced by himself in his inaugural, reiterate 
his message to Congress in July last, and ag. 
in his message to Congress at the commencemt 
of this session. I stand upon the solemn deci 
rations of the last Congress and of this. I mail 
tain, as the Union was formed so it should coi 
tinue and endure foreveran everlasting inonumei 
of the wisdom and patriotism of its founders. 

Let us, Mr. President, in the language of a dis- 
tinguished statesman and former Senator upon 
this floor, "cling to the Constitution as the mar- 
iner clings to the last plank when night and the 
tempest close around him." 



m 



013 701 799 4 



